Welcome to another edition
of Linus Lam Network News for 2015! This news report covers our trip
to Katsucon 2015 for a huge weekend of anime and manga enjoyment and
a whole lot more! Held at the Marriott Gaylord National Resort Hotel and Convention Center
over the weekend of February 13-15, Katsucon 2015 saw lots of attendees ready to party on with a bunch of
dedicated artists, live performances, gaming events, cosplay fun, and plenty of opportunities to hang
out with fellow anime and manga fans. Our exciting trip to Katsucon 2015 starts here! Coverage you can count on, here at Linus Lam
Network News!

Report:
To say I had the best time ever at Katsucon 2015 would be an understatement. The weather was perfect for a brisk cold February in Washington DC, giving way to freedom of not having to worry about travel concerns. Registration was snappy for the most part. Lots of amazing costumes, plenty of panels to attend, and a graciously packed Merchandise Hall and Artists Alley to roam around and peruse some great stuff. Though I missed out on a few important functions here and there, I did make up for it by enjoying what areas I could easily explore without obstacles.

Upon checkin at the Marriott Gaylord National Resort Hotel, I asked for and received a nice low 3rd floor located just steps down towards the Gazebo level which also included a patio to see outside so that was really cool. No elevators needed! I delivered a lot of cosplay props made for cosplay friends YashaFluff, Ariel-chan, Luna Kousaka, Josalyn, and others, and enjoyed an exquisite pre-con Valentine's steak dinner at the steakhouse located near the registration desk on the lobby floor. The hotel staff were quite nice throughout the weekend, pretty much minding their own business and generally keeping traffic areas clear.

Registration badge pickup was a blast, since I signed up for Limited Edition VIP badge, out within 5 minutes. Normal badge pickup started at 7pm on Thursday and most attendees were quickly processed and well on their way to enjoy the big weekend. I spotted a lot more food vendors along the way and they were very handy for quick refreshments to keep this reporter on his feet. Merchandise Hall and Artists Alley were located on the bottom Atrium floor and were always packed with attendees and tons of cool stuff like Kigarumis, Alpacas, and Nenderoids. I was pleased to see the KPoppin USA booth there selling plenty of Kpop items and also spent a few minutes at the CrunchyRoll video wall goofing with my friend Maryann back in California who was watching the Live Feed Broadcast. I stopped by a few interesting panels and workshops including the fairly busy Karaoke room. VIP members were allowed into one of the main ballrooms for a special VIP Meet and Greet session but I only stayed for a few minutes because of my busy meeting schedule. The Maryland room on the far end of the hall served as the very spacious luggage holding area for Sunday checkout and hotel concierge staffers were very good about keeping that area secure. Katsucon staffers were out and about but generally kept to the convention area to monitor traffic flow for big events, autograph sessions, and check for badges at the panels and workshop events doors. As usual, I saw plenty of Katsucon Information Booths with staffers to point you in the right direction and hotel staffers graciously helped me find the Maryland Ballroom and Azalea Meeting Rooms.

I have to say the cosplay atmosphere was spectacular this year. The Gazebo level was packed as well as the lower fountains area. So many amazing costumes, both in detail and general construction, it was very challenging to try to get photos of everyone. Everyone brought their A-Game out and aside from the important non-cosplay events, this is why Katsucon remains to me as top-notch in anime conventions to attend. Popular cosplays this year were Love Live, RWBY, Madoka Magica, Vocaloid, and of course Sailor Moon. With the unfortunate passing of Monty Oum, the RWBY community came out in full force to pay their respects at a big gathering. Back on the highlights trail, I found out one of my cosplay friends Jezeroth and his handy team of Final Fantasy IX folks won Best in Show at the Cosplay Masquerade so kudos and congratulations to them! It was also great to run into Adam Fory-san who helped staff parts of Katsu, Alicia and Emily who manned Karaoke events, Sariel-chan who ran the Sailor Moon costuming events, Vincent Millum Jr. of CosPix who's working diligently on putting out the evolving Cospix.net to serve the cosplay community, and plenty of excellent Cosplay Photographers like Sarah Sugarman of Sorairo-days, Jason Nishi of i360, Eddie Lai of White Specs, Albert Ng of Eurobeat Kasumi, and James Wu of GQ Bravo and Cosplay Videographers like Romeo Chan and Ackson Ree. Cosplay selfies were all the rage this year so I got to level up strong on the selfie game with cosplay buds Rosabella, Lin Han, Riaria Chin, YashaFluff, Paulina, Ariel-chan, Terri, Aki Nii, Ruiki Toji, Josalyn, Luna Kousaka, Kira, Grey-san, and Dani Saurz. A packed meet-up schedule was then successfully performed with Nightmaren Cosplay, LomeLindi, Emi Lo, Tohma, Utai Mitsumo, Hannah, Adam Wright, Michael Eng, Mario Bueno, Karen McOscar, Chiara Scuro, Krys,
Eve Floutas, Melly McShane, AkaneSaotome Cosplay, Mike Vares, Celine Jules, Tess Rufflebutt, Rob and Allana, Nicole Ciaramella, Kayla Kelley, Lyn Hargreaves, Dana Harvey, Kit Mari, Jazzmin Jolly, Yume Ka, Anni Wang, Kitsurie Yuki, Karumen, LadyAva, Abby, MostFlogged Jenni, Cerulean Draco and Skye Sea, Pixiekitty, June Tang, LuvNatsu, Mei Hoshi, Ridley Honeycutt, Malissa, Izaya Orihara, Matthew Lewis, Linh Lam, Niho Palaoa, Yuurisans Cosplay, and numerous other cosplay enthusiasts.

It's always hard to crank out a great vacation experience because of so many factors that could mar the image of what you had in mind. Thankfully, everything clicked into place nicely and I got record coverage of Katsucon this year as well as meeting up with folks to chat business with for next year's big cosplay events schedule. Katsucon is still amazing as always and highly recommended.